Frozen Time
by Nerdwriteria
Summary: Everyone is given a timer on their wrist at a certain point in their teenage years. Clary's appeared on her 17th birthday, sending a flash of warmth up her arm. But on her 18th birthday, exactly 1 year after it's appearance, the time freezes. The event unheard of, Clary begins to lose hope as time passes. Follow Clary as she searches for the cause of her frozen clock. AU AH J/C OOC


_45 seconds_

 _43 seconds.._

She smoothed her hair down, checking her reflection in the glass window.

 _38_

 _37_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _33_

Straightening her clothes one last time, she continued walking down the sidewalk with her head held high, her face flushed a pleasant rosy colour from the cold.

 _15_

 _14_

 _13_

 _12_

 _11_

 _10_

She snuck a quick glance towards her wrist, wondering who she would see when the seconds ran out.

 _4_

 _3_

 _2_

 _1_

 _*SMACK*_

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" This was so not what was supposed to happen. Her eyes met those of an old man, at least 20 years older than her. He was glaring at her but as he opened his mouth to insult her once again, a hand laid on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, mate. I think that's my soulmate you're insulting." The old man and the young woman both looked at the voice, the latter's eyes going wide with shock. Muttering under his breath, the old man glared at the two of them before walking away.

"Hi, I'm Simon. It's nice to meet you." Isabelle smiled, holding her hand out.

"It's nice to meet you, Simon. I'm Isabelle." He grinned back, taking her hand and shaking it.

The newly acquainted pair began walking down the pathway, Isabelle only looking back once to give me a thumbs up. I grinned back at her before turning and walking in the opposite direction. She didn't need my help anymore.

I glanced at my own wrist, frowning slightly at the frozen numbers. 2h 13m 9s. They didn't decrease, nor did they fade to grey like those of a soulmate who died. The numbers merely stared back at me, stark black against my pale skin.

 _Perhaps he's frozen in time or in a coma,_ I mused to myself again. I had somewhat given up on my time. After all, waiting for 2 years for the time to start running again wasn't something I enjoyed doing.

**FLASHBACK**

 _Isabelle and I giggled as we sat underneath the oak tree in her parents' backyard. Her clock was steadily ticking, reading: 2y 1mo 6d 1h. Mine had shown on my skin earlier than her's had, appearing on my wrist on my 17th birthday, reading: 1y 2h 13m 9s._

 _I loved to watch the time slowly tick towards zero, bringing me closer and closer to my soulmate._

 _"Clary?" My face snapped up towards Isabelle, a mischievous grin lighting her face. I quirked a brow._

 _"What?"_

 _"Magnus is throwing a party tonight, and he invited us." I frowned. The last time I went to one of Magnus Bane's partied, I got shit-faced and spent 3 hours with my head in a toilet._

 _"Come on, Clary! You can't let one bad experience turn you away from parties forever. You only turn 18 once, you know. Maybe you'll meet your soulmate today!"_

 _"Fine! But if I die from alcohol poisoning, I'm blaming you." She grinned victoriously, standing and pulling me into her room to get ready._

 _…_

 _The two of us stood in the doorway of Magnus's house, Isabelle ringing the doorbell impatiently as I shivered slightly next to her._

 _Finally the door opened and we were greeted by a handsome stranger, his brow furrowed as he looked at the two of us._

 _"Well?" Isabelle snapped, "Can we come in? Magnus invited us." The stranger's eyes flickered towards mine and I was met with a pair of striking gold eyes before he stepped to the side. As Isabelle and I walked into the house, my arm brushed against his and a cold feeling shot through my veins. My eyes shot towards his, but his face stayed the same, almost impassive but with a hint of unease._

 _Shrugging off the strange feeling, I followed Isabelle further into the house, grinning at the prospect of meeting my soulmate._

 _It wasn't until an hour later that I realized the cold feeling was my clock freezing. 2h 13m 9s._

 _The stranger was nowhere to be found._

**END FLASHBACK**

Now, on my 20th birthday, I had all but given up hope. I went on dates and met new people but I had secretly resigned myself to a life of loneliness. Shaking myself internally, I berated my thinking. Who was to say that I would be defined by a stranger claiming to be my soulmate? No one. I was in charge of my own destiny and no one could tell me anything different.

Sitting in the tube, I watched the people around me, wondering how many of these people were waiting and how many of them had already found their match. There were no other documented cases of someone's time freezing, and so the question never crossed my mind. I was the only one with frozen time on my wrist.

Getting off the underground train at my stop, I pulled my coat around myself a little tighter as I walked to my small flat, cold seeping into my skin as the day turned to night.

—

When I arrived home, I couldn't help but feel a hint of tension for some reason unknown. I unlocked the door and threw my coat onto the sofa before making my way into the kitchen to make myself a small birthday snack.

As I prepared the little cupcake I had bought earlier that day with a candle in the center, the feeling of foreboding I felt earlier came back, stronger this time. I ignored it once again, focusing on lighting the small candle as I sang myself a round of _Happy Birthday._

 _Happy Birthday to you.._

I blew out the candle, making a wish as the flame flickered out.

 ** _DING DONG_**

I straightened quickly, brow furrowing in confusion. There was no way Isabelle would come so soon after finding Simon. I was giving her 3 days before seeing her again.

Opening the door, I saw a tall stranger, my head coming up just to his shoulder. He was slightly lanky but still well built. My eyes moved up from the center of his torso towards his face, where I was met with blond hair and a pair of beautiful gold eyes.

A/N:

 **Hello everyone!**

 **Thank you so much for reading my story.**

 **I would like to give a quick disclaimer, these characters are not my own, they all belong to the lovely Cassandra Clare. I got the idea to write a story of this sort off of tumblr, but I'm not sure exactly who the use was. I'll find out and paste the link here.**

 **So, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS YOU THE BOMB**

 **PS leave lots of reviews and let me know what you think! I'm a slut for those reviews 3**


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